The State

The first round of a court fight between the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a rebel post opposed to U.S. intervention in Central America went to the post. Rejecting vehement arguments by a VFW attorney to dismiss the case, Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Donald O. May signed an order for an alternative writ of mandate, a legal step that gives the defendant the choice between backing down or attempting to prove in court that it acted properly. The judge set a hearing on the issue for April 18. On Monday, the leadership of the 2.1 million-member VFW canceled the charter of the 67-member Santa Cruz post because of its resolution supporting "self-determination and nonintervention in Central America." The resolution, taken by a post member to officials of the Nicaraguan government in December, opposed a national VFW resolution calling for the restoration of "American primacy" in Latin America.